Omega Force 7: Redemption by Joshua Dalzelle Read Free Book Online Page A

change soon," he said, mouthing the empty platitude as he knew the chances of him ever seeing Kellea again were quite slim. He didn't know how, but he was sure she would eventually learn about what he'd done and it would mean the end of whatever they had.
    ****
    "Tell me some good news," Jason said as he walked up onto the bridge of his ship.
    "I know where Crusher is," Kage said, looking like he was pronouncing a death sentence.
    "Judging by your expression I'm going to guess it isn't someplace close or easy to break into," Jason prompted as he took in all the grim faces around him.
    "It's Duat," Doc said quietly.
    "Fuck me," Jason muttered quietly, feeling the blood drain from his face. Duat was a notorious prison that made De'Moltia seem like an all-inclusive vacation resort. It was on an average-sized planet that had an exceptionally long orbit around a main sequence red dwarf star. As a result, the planet was dark and very, very cold. The prison itself was deep within the crust where it took advantage of the small amount of geothermal energy and heat available. Not only did Duat have a reputation for brutality and short life expectancy for its guests, it also wasn't a place that was easily accessed. For obvious reasons a frontal assault wouldn't work, and gaining access through back channels was usually just as hard.
    "He was included in another prisoner transfer and sold to the Watchers for six million credits," Kage said. "He wasn't mentioned by name, but the description leaves no doubt it was him."
    "This might be completely unrelated to our package being dead," Jason said, rubbing his chin. "Those animals that run Duat don't give a shit about politics on any level. In fact, someone may have recognized Crusher, or just recognized what he is, and he was the reason the contact was killed, not the other way around."
    "If they paid that much for him we can assume it wasn't just because they wanted a Galvetic corpse," Twingo said. "This means his chances of being alive still just increased exponentially."
    "But not for long," Jason said as he slid into the pilot's seat and began bringing the individual systems online. "I've heard some rumors about what they do for fun in that hellhole. Even as good as he is, Crusher is still in serious, serious trouble. Get the ship ready to fly. Kage, get our departure clearance taken care of. We're out of here as soon as possible."
    "Good," Kage said. "I can't guarantee how long it will take them to untangle the mess I left behind on the Faullian networks."
    As it turned out, not long at all. The Phoenix had no sooner cleared the upper orbits of Faulli when the com panel lit up with requests that they either return to the planet or return to the Defiant . Jason ordered his crew to ignore all of them and continued to push out towards the edge of the system as if everything were normal and he simply hadn't received the incoming messages.
    "The Defiant is breaking orbit," Doc said after a few more strident messages hit their com node. "She's coming about and looks to be pursuing."
     
    "So much for being long gone by the time they found out," Jason said.
    "Don't blame me," Kage said. "I can only do so much. There wasn't enough traffic on that downlink to hide in. They were always going to find out I'd been there."
    "I wasn't blaming you," Jason said. "Instead of whining about it, why don't you get our slip-space vector ready and I'll get the drive online."
    Jason could see on his display that the Defiant was making a good show of trying to catch him, but Kellea knew her ship didn't have a chance of running the Phoenix down. Given the headstart they had on the battlecruiser he assumed they were just trying to make it look like they'd done everything in their power to catch the fleeing gunship.
    "Course is ready and locked in," Kage said.
    "Let's go get our boy," Jason said and slapped the control pad near his right thigh. With a slight shudder the Phoenix jumped into slip-space and far away